My Fitness

Monday, April 8, 2013

My mom had a dream Saturday night, April 5, 2013. She's in California on vacation.

We love our new apartment. We have four windows in our second story 2-bedroom. The first is in the kids' bedroom and is over the hallway just outside our front door. There's a double window in our bedroom that goes out to the patio. In the dining room, right next to our bedroom, there's a single window next to the door that goes out to the patio. And then there's a big double window in the living room that has no landing but the ground underneath some 13-17 feet below.

we live in the upper floor. notice the a/c units behind the bushes

Sunday, April 6, 2013, the weather was a little warmer and Felipe wasn't feeling too well so he opened all the windows while Micah napped and Caleb and I were at the grocery store. When I got home, I gave both kids dinner in their seats in the living room and not the dining room because we were having some special family fun time.

When Caleb was done, I let him out of his chair and he went to sit on the sofa but there was a string of spaghetti stuck to his leg! So he takes it and throws it. oh dear. Now I'm looking for this spaghetti string when I see Caleb get on top of the sofa right next to the open window. He always sits up there. We never have the window open. So tonight when he went to lean against the window like he always does he simply fell through the screen. I saw his legs flip over the side.

I don't remember what I said, but somehow I got Felipe's attention and he asked what was wrong. I was racing outside and screaming for him to call 9-1-1. All of our neighbors came rushing out. They all had their phones in their hands and they all wanted to help. We chose a good neighborhood. I raced down the stairs and saw my crying baby Caleb running around the side of the building. He had a little drop of blood on his lip. He was terrified. I scooped him up in my arms and tried to comfort him. I went back upstairs got Micah and Felipe and we drove to the nearest hospital. We just moved to Lewisville. We didn't know where any hospital was. I'm very grateful that we live in the age of smart phones.

I ran a red light at a clear intersection.

We arrived at Medical Center of Lewisville just after 9. After all the doctors and nurses were done with their poking and prodding, the x-rays and cat scans, and a little morphine, they determined that Caleb had a basilar skull fracture. It is such a slight fracture that nothing can be done for it except pain management, if any pain is there. Caleb has no bruising, swelling, or bleeding in his brain or head. I asked him just a little while ago if he needed medicine and he said no. I asked if he was in pain and at first he said no but then changed it to "his foot" and he pointed to some scrapes on his foot that I had not seen before. So I gave him kisses and that made him feel better. I'm glad he understands what I was asking and I'm glad he was telling the truth (sometimes little kids lie for no good reason).

While Caleb was under observation in the hospital last night, I asked him if it was scary falling out the window. He didn't say anything. So I asked if it was fun falling and he smiled but then started crying. I asked if he had fun falling but if it stopped being fun when he hit the ground. Yes, that was it. He has cat-like reflexes and landed on all fours but slightly heavier on his left side.

I texted all the family. And my mom asked me to call her. She told me that she had a dream the night before. She saw Caleb falling from the window. It scared her enough that she woke up and started praying for him. Perhaps this was a vision from the Spirit beckoning her to pray for her grandson. Caleb was covered in prayer since a day ahead of time for this specific incident.

I've always had an eerie feeling that one of my babies would fall out a window but it was always surrounded in a feeling of comfort that everything would be okay. And here everything played out just how I "knew" it would. It's amazing. Many parents have much worse outcomes with less severe circumstances. We are counting our blessings!

I've been talking with the apartment complex about any possibility of insurance help from them. We have Renter's Insurance that may cover some of the expenses too. [update 5/21: turns out the bill is less than $2k and not $30k like I expected]

There were little things that happened on Sunday that helped prepare for the evening. We moved our car to an easier parking spot. It's a little thing that really helped. When we were out and about I saw the medical center and wondered out loud to Felipe if that was a hospital. We didn't know but as soon as our phone said the name of the hospital I immediately remembered it's exact location. There was hardly any traffic. We were all still dressed and while we would have left if we were only half dressed, it's nice that we all had clothing on. Micah and Caleb had just eaten dinner, so they weren't hungry at all.

My in-laws came and got Micah and are taking care of him for the day. It makes things so much easier because the boys aren't playing together and thus not furthering any of Caleb's injuries. Also, I'm able to focus on Caleb as much as he needs me and make him feel loved. But whenever Felipe handed Micah over to Grandma I could hear him screaming after him, "DA-DY! DA-DY!" It broke my heart to hear my other baby in tears too...of course, my threshold was already significantly lowered by then. Micah is doing fine and we will see him again in just a little while.

Caleb woke up this morning just fine. He pulled his medical anklet off and patted his body down looking for stickers that the doctors had put on him to connect him to monitors. Last night the nurse had to reattach his heart rate monitor to his toe several times because Caleb has little monkey toes and successfully unattached it every time the RN attached it! It was the only comical event of the evening. After he was done inspecting himself he smiled at me, hugged my neck and snuggled for awhile telling me all about what happened. It was very sweet and precious.

enjoying being spoiled with milk, iPads, computer, toys, pretzels...

His foot seems to hurt when he puts pressure on it and tries to walk. His chocolate milk was on the nightstand and he walked over to it and cried until he got back into bed. The next time he went to get it, he got down and crawled over to it. He seems to have a sprain or a strain. He's asked me to rub his foot where it hurts which leads me to believe it isn't broken. We have another follow up at Children's in Dallas on Thursday at 2.

playing at Toys R Us

I took Caleb to Toys R Us and bought him a toy. When we got home he tried to look out the, now, forever-closed window and he wanted to go look where he fell. I asked him to show me what happened and he pointed to two different spots where he hit his head. So, I'm a little confused to what that means. There's no way he hit both of those spots, unless he got up and tripped and hit his head a second time further away. Maybe he didn't understand what I had asked or maybe I wasn't understanding what he was telling me.

orange outline where he landed blue outline where his knee impacted

the two possible places where he hit his head

narrow opening

the infamous window

side view of the height of the fall

Caleb has been so great throughout all of this crazy ordeal. I'm so proud of him. I've told him many times in the past and I've repeated to him yesterday and today how I always wanted to be a mommy and when God gave him to me he made my dream come true! I told him that he will always be the special baby that first made me a mommy.

I keep reenacting that moment when he fell in my mind. Caleb loves that falling sensation so he might not have even realized he was in danger until he hit the ground. My neighbors downstairs came out when Caleb was reenacting what happened. They said they only heard something heavy fall and that they didn't see anything and they didn't even hear crying. I don't think Caleb cried until he hit the ground. He's mostly concerned with his foot. And he likes his new toys.

You may not like me or my husband or my kids. You may think that somehow we deserve this. But there is no way Caleb deserved this. He is precious. He didn't have bad karma (or good karma). He simply fell victim to an accident. Accidents happen. You can blame God and be angry with Him. You can be angry with me or Felipe. We live in a fallen world and bad things happen to good people. We don't know why God spared Caleb's life but we are grateful for his grace.

Caleb and I pray to God every night. In Sunday School Caleb was learning that God is everywhere. So a couple of nights ago I asked if he wanted God to be in his heart too and he said yes. I told him that Jesus is God and will come into his heart and make his heart clean if he only asks. And he smiled at me and fell asleep. It's true for Caleb and it's true for you too. It is comforting to know that even if Caleb were to have died that it was within God's control. Everyone dies. I don't idolize my son. His life is in God's hands. This small trial only furthers my trust that even if the next accident ends worse, that God is still God. Many people have endure more and I pray that this is the worse of my trials in this life.

where his back hit the window ledge

at the hospital in a neck brace

at home today with his new Angry Birds toy, with his Angry Birds blanket, watching Angry Birds cartoons

**UPDATE** We took Caleb to the Children's specialist and he seemed to think we were being a bit over-protective rushing to the ER and then a follow-up for a child that was obviously fine. I guess he sees a lot worse at the time. His nonchalant attitude toward us made me feel silly and stop worrying about the "what-ifs". It took us longer to find a parking spot than the actual visit.

Thank goodness he is ok also a good thing you have insurance on the boys I’m sure the cost of him going to the ER without insurance would be crazy! When you have kids things happen and kids will be kids. Maybe no more getting on the couch like that during the nicer weather so you can enjoy a nice breeze.